Union City: Hazardous waste shipments lead to arrests of two former execs

By Chris De Benedetti The Argus

Posted:
02/19/2014 07:07:58 AM PST

Updated:
02/19/2014 07:08:31 AM PST

UNION CITY -- Two former executives of a Union City waste disposal company have been arrested on suspicion of grand theft and conspiracy for illegally disposing of hazardous waste.

Kirk Hayward and Charles Seaton are accused of using Clearwater Environmental Management to dispose of hazardous waste after the company lost its transport license in 2007 following a state investigation, the Department of Toxic Substances Control said Tuesday in a news release.

That case culminated in the felony conviction of Hayward, who was sentenced to 60 days in jail and a $70,000 fine.

In July 2011, investigators found evidence of new wrongdoing when they served a search warrant at Clearwater's facility, in the 33200 block of Western Avenue, the state agency said. There, they discovered that Hayward and Seaton illegally transported hazardous waste, used another transporter's name on official industry records, and defrauded some of their customers.

The law requires producers of hazardous waste to transport those materials to a permitted facility and to document how and where it was disposed of. While at least four Clearwater customers paid for those services, prosecutors say the company never performed them.

Instead, it disposed of the waste at illegal locations and falsified its transportation and disposal records, the state agency said.

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The company's documents said it had taken waste to a Nevada oil-recycling plant Clearwater owns, but in many cases the hazardous materials were dumped elsewhere, the state agency said.

Hayward and Seaton were arrested Feb. 11 and charged with four felony counts of grand theft by false pretenses, and one felony count of conspiracy, District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Teresa Drenick said. Each was released after paying bail set around $100,000.

The two pleaded innocent last week and their next court date is Feb. 27, she said.